Iran’s longest mural in the city of Mashad, which stretched across an estimated 23,680 square feet of wall space, depicting inspirations from the Shahnameh or The Book of Kings, was erased overnight.

The liberal mainstream media is once again wrong on Iran! Despite its tireless depiction of Iran’s internal struggle as a tug-of-war between two Islamist camps (Khamenei v. Ahmadinejad), both the regime in Tehran and the Iranian people know it’s really a long overdue civil war between a secular Iran and an Islamic Iran.

Case in point: According to a recent report by Radiofarda, Iran’s longest mural in the city of Mashad, which stretched across an estimated 23,680 ft2 of wall space depicting inspirations from Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh or The Book of Kings, was erased overnight!

It had taken a team of local artists a year to complete the $35,000 project. An official sign on the blank wall claimed the space as the endowed property of Imam Reza, a 9th century religious leader to Shiite Muslims.

Ferdowsi (940-1020) completed his epic masterpiece in around 1010 and it is composed of roughly 60,000 verses covering Iran’s pre-Islamic history. The Shahnameh was not only a work of Iranian literary genius, but also the single most important catalyst in saving the endangered Iranian national identity, history and language at a time when the country was besieged by Muslim Arab encroachment and control.

The destruction of this mural in Mashad, inspired by Iranian national heritage, is part of the regime’s 32-year-old psychological warfare against the Iranian people and their culture and history.

The clerics in power have been systematically attacking anything Iranian since they took control of the country in 1979 under Khomeini’s leadership fully supported by the Carter Administration and foreign powers. This ethnic cleansing was a necessary strategy to their long-term goals as Iranian nationalism is contradictory to Islamism. The regime has stepped up its Iranian cultural genocide since the national revolt in June 2009.

According to Iran’s Sharia Constitution, the government is based on Koranic justice. Men and women must live in conformity with Islamic criteria. There is no god but “Allah.” The leadership of Iran is to make sure there is uninterrupted process of the revolution of Islam. The Islamic Republic has a duty to unite the Islamic world. Only Zoroastrians (native Iranian religion), Jews and Christians are recognized religious minorities within the limits of the law.

Since the language of the Koran and Islamic teachings is Arabic then Arabic must be taught in all areas of studies from elementary years. Iran’s traditional national flag bearing the lion-n-sun symbol is replaced by one with the motto “Allah.” The nation’s army must be an Islamic army committed to Islamic ideology.

Simply put, according to the clerics in Tehran, Iran and its resources are to be used for Islamization, not national interests. Even the primary duty of the armed forces is the protection of Islam. Since Islamization is impossible without adopting Arab culture and language as fully indicated by the regime’s Constitution, the Iranian national identity is clearly under attack.

Therefore, by the order of the clerics, the Shahnameh mural in Mashad was wiped out as depictions of pre-Islamic Iranian kings, heroes and notable women are symbolic of Iranian national exceptionalism. Topics inspired by the Shahnameh are without a doubt the antithesis to Islamization. Their depiction is contradictory to the Islamic Republic’s goals as stated in its Constitution. Since the regime is engaged in radical Islamization, it did not simply erase the national images, but replaced them with an Islamic endowment!

Contrary to what agenda-driven mainstream media projects to the Free World, as long as Iran is ruled by a Sharia Constitution and clerics, it does not matter who actually occupies the presidential residence. It is the Constitution that defines the status and future of a nation.

As such, the Iranian people are not fighting for the removal of an unpopular and illegal president, but the elimination of a foreign theocracy that is using their nation’s wealth to commit global terrorism while subjecting Iranians to ethnic genocide. Hence, the regime is very afraid of this awakened and energized national identity. This fight for national preservation versus Islamization is not unique to Iran. Turkey, Syria and Lebanon each were, and still are, engaged in a similar struggle.

Regarding Iran in its current demise, as history has shown, the more a foreign entity presses its people against their identity, the stronger their national force will become.

Iran is an ancient land of heroes and heroines. It is a land of poetry, wine, love and immortality.

The Iranian sense of being and belonging is a reflection of those historical and mythical men and women recited by Ferdowsi, who lived, fought and loved for Iran. The Shahnameh remains the Iranian people’s divine, omnipotent and enduring weapon.

Sheda Vasseghi is on the Board of Azadegan Foundation, and is a regular contributor to Freepressers.com and WorldTribune.com on Iran’s affairs.

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